Conversations with Place, Land, Home

On Indifference: Walking the Willamette at River Mile 21

I begin my days beside this river. Or end them, or take a break in the middle. I visit so often, I begin to think of this presence as friendly. I forget.

Issue 4 of The Cerurove is here, and with it my essay On Indifference: Walking the Willamette at River Mile 21. (Also some beautiful artwork — it’s worth clicking through just to see it.)

I lived a five-minute walk from River Mile 21 for six years. (It’s the same spot I didn’t swim in Star Songs & Water Rituals.) It was not an occasional companion; we hung out every day, mostly at odd hours. It became a special place for me, a teaching place. This essay, drafted several winters back and more recently revised, attempts to distill one lesson it keeps teaching.